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Tetchy third period sinks Phoenix

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MobilX Vipers 4 – 2 Manchester Phoenix

Manchester Phoenix went down on Tyneside on Saturday in a tetchy third period as tempers came close to fraying on a number of occasions.

Newcastle, at full strength for the first time in weeks, started brightly and controlled he opening exchanges with former Phoenix winger Derek Campbell prominent in their early offensive rushes. Phoenix worked hard to kill an early Hooking penalty against Brett Clouthier only for seconds after he returned to the play for Campbell to fire home the opening goal from an acute angle on a pass from Colin Shields in the sixth minute. Phoenix didn’t panic and steadily worked their way back into the game and duly equalised in the 13th minute as Tony Hand found Simon Mangos on the right and his play to the net was turned in by Clouthier.

The second session saw Phoenix take the lead in the 24th minute as Mangos and Joe Tallari combined to split the Vipers defence for Tony Hand to skate in and neatly deke the puck past Ryan McDonald in the Vipers net despite the close attentions of Jez Lundin. In an entertaining encounter, Newcastle responded and Phoenix netminder Scott Fankhouser needed to be alert to deny Ben Storey and Colin Shields just past the midway point of the period. With a boisterous home crowd behind them, Vipers drew level in the 36th minute, Lundin firing into the top corner assisted by Ben Storey and Todd Jackson.

With all to play for in the third period, a more physical approach came into the game with some big hits being thrown and players from both sides chirping each other. The home side gained their second lead of the game in the 47th minute, Jackson winning a face-off and feeding Storey whose shot was sweetly deflected past Fankhouser by Shields. Luke Stauffacher and Andre Payette were conducting a running argument while Sean Starke and Dean Holland also exchanged words more than once as emotions began to run high. Phoenix were desperately unlucky not to equalise again as MacDonald deflected a shot from Starke onto his crossbar and safety in the 53rd minute. This proved a crucial save as two minutes later, Newcastle added their fourth marker, Jeff Hutchins finding the net on a delayed penalty against Tony Hand. The simmering nature of the period threatened to boil over in the final two minutes as Campbell clashed with Fankhouser behind the Phoenix net and Jeff MacMillan stepped in to protect his teammate, and at the final hooter, tempers again frayed as Sean Starke appeared to be speared by a Vipers player and for a few seconds, it looked like a mass brawl might erupt. Referee Andy Carson managed to calm the situation to allow the post-game handshakes to take place without further incident.

A Phoenix spokesperson commented, “The third period worked against us a little as the Vipers seemed intent on disrupting our play and to some extent we let them get to us. Overall, we probably could have been a bit more clinical in front of goal as too many shots went straight at MacDonald. The bad blood at the end could have seen a number of players penalised, but the referee handled it well. Newcastle come to our barn next Sunday and we’ll have to wait and see if things continue in a prickly fashion.”